A New Locality of Mesobuthus Gibbosus (Brullé, 1832) from Montenegro (Scorpiones: Buthidae)
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A New Locality of Mesobuthus gibbosus (Brullé, 1832) from Montenegro (Scorpiones: Buthidae) Oskar Wiśniewski & Barbara Olech August 2015 — No. 205 Euscorpius Occasional Publications in Scorpiology EDITOR: Victor Fet, Marshall University, ‘[email protected]’ ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Michael E. Soleglad, ‘[email protected]’ Euscorpius is the first research publication completely devoted to scorpions (Arachnida: Scorpiones). Euscorpius takes advantage of the rapidly evolving medium of quick online publication, at the same time maintaining high research standards for the burgeoning field of scorpion science (scorpiology). Euscorpius is an expedient and viable medium for the publication of serious papers in scorpiology, including (but not limited to): systematics, evolution, ecology, biogeography, and general biology of scorpions. Review papers, descriptions of new taxa, faunistic surveys, lists of museum collections, and book reviews are welcome. 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Publication date: 25 August 2015 http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:84143284-132B-4342-ACB1-7C3433F75492 Euscorpius — Occasional Publications in Scorpiology. 2015, No. 205 A new locality of Mesobuthus gibbosus (Brullé, 1832) from Montenegro (Scorpiones: Buthidae) Oskar Wiśniewski 1 & Barbara Olech 2 1 College of Inter-Faculty Individual Studies in Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Warsaw, Poland; email: [email protected] 2 Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, Poland http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:84143284-132B-4342-ACB1-7C3433F75492 Summary A new locality close to northwestern boundary of the geographic range is reported for Mesobuthus gibbosus (Brullé, 1832), from Montenegro, Crmnica Region, near Virpazar (42º13' N 19º06' E). Introduction thern boundary of the second species, Mesobuthus eupeus, reaches even higher latitude; there are records Mesobuthus gibbosus (Brullé, 1832) (Scorpiones: from localities close to 50°N (Gromov, 2001). The Buthidae) is a relatively large (up to 85 mm) yellow or northernmost record of M. eupeus came from Orenburg brown-yellowish scorpion (Kinzelbach, 1975). It prefers Province (Russia) (Davygora & Rusakov, 2001). This arid and semi-arid habitats. The species is widespread in location lies at 51º13' N 57º75' E (Fet, 2010). The proposed limiting factor for Mesobuthus is the presence the Anatolia and the Balkan Peninsula; in the Balkans, it is the only member of family Buthidae. The confirmed of unfavorable type of soil (Gromov, 2001). The northern boundary of Mesobuthus gibbosus in locality reports came from Albania, Bulgaria, Europe is less well known. The localities in Montenegro Macedonia, Greece, Montenegro, and the European part constitute presumably the very northwestern boundary of Turkey (Fet, 2010). of this species. The northeastern boundary was estab- Mesobuthus gibbosus has been a subject of several lished by Teruel et al. (2004), who reported M. gibbosus recent studies. Its population genetics has been studied from the Pirin Mountains (Bulgaria). The latitude of the in Turkey and Greece by Gantenbein & Largiadèr Bulgarian locality is comparable to the localities men- (2002) and Gantenbein & Keightley (2004). Parmakelis tioned below for Montenegro. A verification is needed et al. (2006) published a detailed phylogeographic study on how permanent is the Bulgarian population since of M. gibbosus from Turkey and Greece based on DNA only a single specimen was found. markers. It is believed that the genus Mesobuthus orig- The distribution of M. gibbosus in Montenegro is inates from Central Asia, and that M. gibbosus is the poorly known due to the fact that this territory was a part Anatolian species that dispersed into Europe. Its of former Yugoslavia; numerous country records con- complex history has been influenced by a variety of cern Yugoslavia as a whole, without precise data. fragmentation factors and dispersal events. The The majority of publications dealing with the Bal- Mediterranean region when the basin had desiccated kan scorpions has been devoted to the species of the during the Messinian Salinity Crisis when Medi- genus Euscorpius Thorell, 1876 (fam. Euscorpiidae), terranean islands were connected to the continental land while the single species of Buthidae received much less mass for ca. 100,000 years (Gantenbein & Keightley, attention. Hadži (1931) reported a specimen of M. 2004). The period of dryness was followed by the gibbosus collected near Podgorica, Montenegro (42º Zanclean flood, when the Mediterranean Sea has been 26'N) (deposited in the Museum of Sarajevo, currently refilled (ca. 5.33 million years ago). Therefore, this the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina). He genus has a potential to be a very interesting object of also mentioned a specimen collected by Stanko Karaman ecological and biogeographical research. in Rudnik, Pčinja District in southern Serbia (about Two Asian species of Mesobuthus are known to 42º45' N). Since that publication, this species has not reach relatively high northern latitudes. The northern been formally reported from Montenegro for years. boundary of Mesobuthus caucasicus in Kazakhstan Kovařík (1999) in his review mentioned M. gibbosus for follows latitudes above 45°N (Gromov, 2001). The nor- Yugoslavia without a specific location. Radosavljevic & 2 Euscorpius — 2015, No. 205 Figures 1–2: Habitat of Mesobuthus gibbosus, Skadar Lake National Park, Montenegro (top). A juvenile Mesobuthus gibbosus from Skadar Lake National Park (bottom). Ilic (2009) reported a case study on scorpionism of the part of the country; however, no detailed information has species from Montenegro. These authors recorded been published. patients stung by a scorpion in Krimovica (Kotor The goal of this paper is to report a new locality of District). Pesic (personal communication, 2013) claimed Mesobuthus gibbosus near Skadar Lake National Park that M. gibbosus is “relatively abundant” in the southern (Montenegro). Wiśniewski & Olech: Mesobuthus gibbosus from Montenegro 3 Figure 3: The northernmost localities of Mesobuthus gibbosus (marked with dots): blue, Krimovica (Radosavljevic & Ilic, 2009); red, Skadar Lake (collection by the first author); yellow, Rudnik (Hadži, 1931); green, Pirin Mountains (Teruel et al., 2004). Material and Methods of the lake makes it the largest one at the Balkan Peninsula. It is a transboundary lake (Monte- The scorpions were observed and collected by O.W. negro/Albania) in the outer part of the south-eastern during two field trips to Montenegro in 2013 and 2014. Dinaric Alps. Geologically, its basin is of karstic The area of collection is located in the northeastern part character, as well as its surroundings. The lake is of Lake Skadar. This is a region where garrigue plant situated in the Zeta-Skadar valley, about 7 km from the community dominates (calcareous soil). The specimens coast of the Adriatic Sea. were collected underneath stone during daytime and pre- This part of the Balkan Peninsula is considered to served in 70% ethanol. Material was deposited in the belong to the Mediterranean climate region, which collections of the Faculty of Biology, University of War- means long, hot summers and mild, rainy winters occur. saw. Matvejev & Puncer distinguished several types of landscapes in the proposed “Skadar Lake region” A new locality of Mesobuthus gibbosus (Crnobrnja-Isailovic & Dzukic, 1995; Matvejev & Puncer, 1991). Generally, Mediterranean and Submedi- 1. Montenegro, Crmnica Region, near Virpazar terranean habitats with evergreen woodlands and maquis (42º13' N 19º06' E), a viewpoint located on rocky are dominant. A typical floral element of Mediterranean (limestones) lake east-facing slope, 80 m asl, brown landscape, Quercus ilex, is widespread